Our greatest threat is climate change not Russia

Geraint Davies

8,500 tonnes of ice melted from Greenland during every second that Defence Secretary John Healey gave his resignation speech.

It was the pivotal move that meant Keir Starmer had to resign once Andy Burnham won the Makerfield by-election. And all thoughts were on military not environmental security

Yet a week later the European heatwave baked Britain and reminded us that, as politicians focussed on the future potential threat from Russia, we face a real threat which is already affecting our way of life.

We know that the Ukrainian invasion has meant expensive conventional heavy arms are being outmanoeuvred by lower cost drones and that AI, satellite and automated systems underline the need for a flexible evolution of our defence capabilities.

This neither implies a fixed GDP share for defence nor putting current drone technology centre-stage. In any case the race to become the most lethal is itself a distraction and contribution towards our greatest shared enemy – the real threat to our species’ very existence from climate change.

Let’s not forget that since the 1990 Kyoto agreement baseline global emissions have risen by 60%. Global warming is causing rising seas, droughts and floods, land loss and forced migration, water and food shortages and conflict over depleting resources.

Russia has captured fossil fuel deposits in Ukraine and the US has taken control of Venezuela’s oil. Most recently President Trump’s war-mongering in Iran and support for Russia has made Europe more concerned about defence. Meanwhile his “drill baby drill” mantra has supported Putin’s oil interests and melting the ice caps gives Russia better commercial and military shipping access.

The AI revolution is accelerating climate change and inequality as Tony Blair’s tech-bros-funded foundation suggests that the UK government abandons net zero and embraces AI.

Let’s hope its tentacles are not too deeply embedded and that a new Burnham-led government can be persuaded to change Labour’s approach and put people and planet first.

There’s lots that can be done and we’ve been moving in the wrong direction.

We know that the good work of President Biden is being squandered by Trump. Meanwhile, China’s green initiatives surpass the rest of the world providing lower costs for a green transition but its carbon emissions also now exceed those of the US, EU and Russia combined.

However, 25% of greenhouse gases comes from trade so as their trade rapporteur I got the Council of Europe to agree to my proposals to make trade agreements compliant with the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

Carbon border taxing

The UK is late in plans to implement carbon border taxing in line with the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. That would have made UK steel more price competitive with carbon-intensive Chinese and Indian steel imports. It can also help green energy projects like the Swansea Bay tidal lagoon become more cost effective.

In fact, I proposed in 2023 that a carbon border tax plus green tidal lagoon energy be implemented to safeguard Port Talbot steel production instead of giving Tata government cash to produce then import dirty steel into the UK.

The UK Government should at least safeguard EU standards of environmental protection in the UK, for water, air, soil, flood protection, and climate change as I proposed in the UK 2016 Environmental Protection Maintenance of EU Standards Bill.

This would mean moving towards the World Health Organisation air quality standards that I also proposed in the 2019 Clean Air Bill which would in turn encourage industrial innovation to reduce climate change and increase UK green exports.

Curbing plastics production through taxation, as I proposed in the 2022 Plastics Bill, would help avert there being more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050, as forecasted by the UN.

Meanwhile, the government should not be committing billions to unproven carbon capture alone allowing oil companies to continue climate change scot-free. Fossil fuel companies should help foot the bill and taxpayer investment should focus on green production.

Cutting edge research

Ironically cutting edge research into carbon capture through algae at Swansea University wasn’t helped by the previous government’s failure to replace lost EU funding after Brexit.

As a simplistic minimum the government should prioritise solar panels, home insulation and heat pumps and not just new guns.

By the end of John Healey’s nine minute speech 4.6 million tonnes of ice had melted from Greenland – enough to fill nearly 2000 Olympic swimming pools. The climate crisis is upon us and the UK should take greater leadership.

Perhaps Andy Burnham should turn a new leaf from Keir Starmer and stop imprisoning those who oppose climate change and genocide and instead focus on producing a peaceful and sustainable world for all.

Ultimately we need cooperation to build a safer world but we all understand that if the US and Russia put aggression and self-interest first then we need to build both military and environmental security for all our futures.

Geraint Davies was MP for Swansea West 2010-2024 and for Croydon Central 1997-2005